Andrews University is proud to announce the lineup for the 2007-2008 Season at the Howard Performing Arts Center in Berrien Springs, Michigan, your home for an exceptional concert experience.

On Saturday, Sept. 8, at 8:30 p.m., Opening Night 2007! will kick off the year with a free variety concert, featuring local artists Quintessence Jazz and Lake Effect Jazz performing a selection of jazz standards and favorites.

Pianist Leon Bates and the Borealis Wind Quintet are collaborating this season to present a unique performance combining innovative programming and musical excellence. They will appear at the Howard Center on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. In addition to this performance, Leon Bates will present a lecture entitled Brown vs. Board of Education on Friday, Sept. 21, at 10:30 a.m. This lecture is a discussion of the historical challenges faced by African American musicians and will include musical excerpts by African-American composers. Free and open to the public.

The first performer in the Christian Artist Series will be singer-songwriter Fernando Ortega, a three-time Dove award winner. Ortega’s music resonates with moods and memories rooted deeply in the Spanish melodies of his grandfather as well as classical sources, folk-rock and early-American church hymns. He will be accompanied by a string quartet. Saturday, Oct. 20, 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $15.

For the third year in a row, the winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, held annually at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. will perform. This year’s winner, the Prima Trio, featuring violinist Farhad Hudiyev, clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan, and pianist Anastasia Dedik from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music will perform selections from Khachaturian, Milhaud and Schickele. Tickets are only $5 for the 4:00 p.m. performance on Sunday, Oct. 21.

Sophie Milman, the Russian-born jazz singing sensation, brings her deep, warm voice to the Howard Center on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 8:00 p.m. Her debut album reached #1 on iTunes in the U.S., Japan, France and Canada. The performance will feature selections from Broadway to traditional and modern jazz. Tickets are $20.

The eight-time Grammy Award-winning group Manhattan Transfer presents a wonderful evening of seasonal favorites and songs from their three-decade career of popular and jazz hits. Don’t miss this yuletide treat on Thursday, Dec.13, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 ($35 for Terrace seating).

In a concert on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 8:00 p.m., flutist Eugenia Zukerman will perform. The Boston Globe states, Eugenia Zukerman is an international triple threat. She is a published novelist, a television commentator, and, most impressively, one of the finest flutists of our time. Tickets are $20.

For more than a decade, the women of Point of Grace have chosen to encourage and inspire others with a musical message of God’s love. In a performance that will balance old favorites with selections from their new album, How You Live, Point of Grace will inspire and encourage on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $22.

With his powerful rich baritone and a disarming personality, Wintley Phipps has sung to God’s glory around the world for over thirty years. He will appear at the Howard Center as part of Black History Month on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 ($10 for Terrace seating).

Take 6, the ten-time Grammy Award-winning Christian sextet, will present an evening featuring jazz harmonies, original songs and vocal pyrotechnics with an a cappella flair. Their beautifully-blended harmony can be heard on Saturday, March 29, 2008, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 ($20 for Terrace seats).

The Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra wraps up the 20072008 season on Sunday, April 20, 2008, at 7 p.m. The SMSO will perform Beethoven’s 7th Symphony along with selections by Vaughan Williams. The orchestra, under the direction of new music director, Robin Fountain, will be joined by Stephen Zork, baritone, professor of music at Andrews University, and the Andrews University Chorale. Tickets are $25.

Featured faculty and guest recitals include An Evening of Latin Music with Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007, 8:30 p.m., and Carla Trynchuk, professor of music and violinist, who joins Stephen Framil, cellist, for an afternoon recital of chamber music at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008. Tickets for either of these performances are $10.

Concert tickets are now available for sale. For additional information, please contact the Box Office at 888.467.6442 or 269.471.3560, or visit the Howard Center online at www.howard.andrews.edu.